Wave of looting spreads in Argentina

A woman is overcome with emotion as she looks at damage by looters to a gas station in San Fernando, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, on Dec. 21.

Reuters reports: Two people were killed in Argentina on Friday as looters broke into supermarkets in several cities, stirring memories of the country's devastating economic crisis 11 years ago.

Police fired teargas and rubber bullets to stop dozens of stone-throwing youths from looting a supermarket owned by French retailer Carrefour near the capital, a day after the unrest erupted in the Patagonian ski resort of Bariloche.

Government officials condemned the violence and sent 400 military police to the southern city, where raiders stormed a supermarket owned by the local unit of Wal-Mart and made off with flat-screen televisions and other goods.

The violence spread to the central city of Rosario, where two people were killed, and to the northern province of Chaco. About 250 people were arrested in total in four different provinces and police battled to avert fresh incidents in the urban sprawl that encircles Buenos Aires. Full Story

Martin Acosta / AP

A security guard holding a hockey stick grabs looter at a gas station on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Friday, Dec. 21, 2012.

Enrique Marcarian / Reuters

Police open fire at people who tried to loot a supermarket in San Fernando on the outskirts of Buenos Aires on Dec. 21.

Enrique Marcarian / Reuters

People who tried to loot a supermarket throw stones at police in San Fernando on the outskirts of Buenos Aires on Dec. 21.